Mike Pouncey – October 12, 2017
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Thursday, October 12, 2017
C Mike Pouncey
(Offensive Coordinator Clyde Christensen said there’s no finger pointing on offense right now. Do you see that?) – “No, no one is pointing fingers. We’re just trying to get it all figured out right now. It’s still early in the football season. We know that we’ve got to get our offense going now. It’s the second quarter of the season. We will. We’ll get it going on Sunday.”
(Is it more mental, because I’ve heard you and some of your teammates say the blocks are mental and some of the routes? Is it mental?) – “Yes, for the most part, the first quarter of the season it was a different guy on a different play. We’re trying to get that figured out now, get it sorted away. It doesn’t matter what coach calls, if 11 guys are doing what they’re supposed to do on that play, then that play is going to be successful. Obviously, we haven’t had that going. We’ve had spurts of it throughout this season, so far; but we’ve got to be more consistent on the offensive side of the ball.”
(QB Jay Cutler said yesterday it’s nothing magical right now that’s going to turn this around. What do you think turns this around?) – “Just going out there and doing what you’ve got to do. No one has to do anything extra than what we ask the person to do. At the end of the day, if you do your job, we’ll win a bunch of football games. That’s our mindset right now is get guys to do what they’re supposed to do on every play.”
(Fixing it during the week is one thing, but what about when you’re in game and the struggles are there. How do you approach it that way?) – “You come in at halftime, you try to figure it out. You sit there, you draw stuff up and figure out what plays worked for us in the first half and try and get back into those plays in the second half. A football game, sometimes you think you’re going to line up the way you practice all week and sometimes they just don’t do that. When we get into games, we’ve got to be able to figure that out. Right now, we’re trying to figure it out.”
(How personal do you take the struggles that the offensive line has had?) – “Big time. I’m one of the guys that’s one of the leaders on the offensive line. (I have) been here the longest out of all the guys. Whenever they talk bad about our offensive line, it reflects on me most, because I’ve been here. I just feel like we’ve been playing well on offense. We’ve just got to figure it out and keep being consistent on the offensive side of the ball and stop going three-and-out.”
(Head Coach Adam Gase said there needs to be more of a sense of urgency coming out of the huddle as the clock winds down. Do you see that?) – “Of course. We see the snap count rolling down – or the play clock rolling down – and you just don’t want to be in those situations where you feel like you’re panicking out there. We’ve tried the no-huddle where we just line up on the ball. We just couldn’t get guys lined up right. Now we’re just trying get guys to do what they’re supposed to do each and every play. If we do that, we’ll win a bunch of games. We’ve got a lot of time on the offensive side of the ball.”
(You’re a quarter into the season, how do you feel physically?) – “I feel great. Better than what I expected. I keep rolling, keep going with the plan. 16-plus.”
(Every team obviously deals with adversity throughout the season. Do you think this team has had more on its plate in 4 or 5 weeks than some have in an entire year?) – “No, not really. We just deal with a couple things. As a football player, you come in and you focus on that day, and that’s all you can ask for. When you start worrying about outside stuff is when you start playing bad as a player, as a football team. Right now, we’re just focused on one day at a time, getting better.”
(What has Head Coach Adam Gase done to keep it together?) – “Just be the head coach. Motivate guys. Keep guys wanting to play hard for him.”
(What was your reaction to the events involving Coach Chris Foerster?) – “I was shocked. Chris is a good friend of mine. I hope he gets the help that he needs because he’s a great coach. He was always great to me. He treated me really well. I learned a lot from him in the year and a half we worked together. I just hate to see that he’s going through this.”
(Did you have any inkling that there was anything going on?) – “If I would’ve, we would’ve done something; but no.”
(With Chris Foerster obviously not here, Offensive Coordinator Clyde Christensen was saying you and G/T Jemon Bushrod are more involved now in overseeing things, along with Assistant Offensive Line Coach Chris Kuper and Tight Ends Coach Shane Day. What specifically have you had to do more of this week that you might not do if Chris was still coaching?) – “Honestly, I just come in and be myself, do what I always do. I just motivate guys that want to practice harder, practice better. Obviously, we brought back in my offensive line coach that we had here my rookie year. We feel real comfortable with him. He’s a great coach. He brings a big personality to the offensive line room, something that we need. We’ll be good.”
(So in the room out front, is it Assistant Offensive Line Coach Chris Kuper? Is it Senior Offensive Assistant Dave DeGuglielmo? How has it been the last couple of days?) – “Chris is running everything. ‘Gug’ (Dave DeGuglielmo) is there to help out. Me and ‘Bush’ (Jermon Bushrod) are kind of the guys to lead the rest of these guys to get everybody ready to go.”
(So it is going as smoothly as it could possibly happen?) – “Yes, it’s just a regular work day for us. Nothing has changed at all. Guys come in, the same meeting time. Nothing has changed.”
